So I'm not really sure what to blog about tonight. I meant to blog a couple of more times this week but things kept coming up. Went to the mall to try to find an adapter for my tablet but they were all sold out. Another afternoon was spent successfully getting my tablet connected to the internet, hence why I am not blogging from my office computer. I was quite thrilled to have internet on my tablet through wireless, but unfortunately no android apps can access the proxy for the internet that the school has set up. This means that I can't download more kindle books or install a paint app to do my fun posts. So I guess I'll just say right now that no matter how much you want there to be poorly drawn paint animations in this post, there will sadly not be any. I do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause anyone. Also I'm on book #5 so far so hopefully I will be able to get my kindle app going before I run out of books. I should be able to take books out of the library as well so I mind end up doing that instead of downloading more books. There is such a rich history here at this university so I am sure they have some great books to read. On Monday Mark, who works over in Res Admin, was talking to me about the history of UWC. Apparently when Mandela was elected he asked several administrators and faculty members to join him in his administration. In fact I even think he said that the South African constitution was signed here at UWC. In other words, like I said, there is a rich history at UWC that I want to learn more about. Mark also spoke about how important the students at UWC are. Democracy in South Africa is nowhere near as old as it is in the U.S. and therefore it relies strongly on the youth of South Africa to help to support and nurture it.
Well continuing right along, I believe I left off stating that we landed in Cape Town. If I left that out well then surprise! I have not been stuck on the plane in a holding pattern above Cape Town international airport for the last week, but instead have been living comfortably in a guest res at UWC. I know Kaity has already blogged a lot about how nice the people are and let me tell you that she did not exaggerate at all. The people we have met here have definitely made our transition possible. Every day it seems that we meet someone new who is up to adventure with us. I know in my office I recently learned that one of the folks in my office who goes by Mr. Res Life, but who's named Njabulo, loves to hike and can take us up Table Mountain and Lion's Head. He also offered to take us into one of the townships to a very popular place to get more of a feel for culture of South Africa. Hopefully Kaity and I will find the time to fit everything in before we have to head home. I know she is busy planning our trip to Port Elizabeth that we will hopefully get to do sometime around mid-June. We are still looking for others though to help to show us all that this beautiful country has to offer.
I guess I should also backtrack for a second and explain what I've been doing work wise since I've been here. When we arrived on Friday Munya from CSSS picked us up at the airport. He was very kind and friendly and has gone out of his way, several times, to help me and Kaity out. In fact, he is taking us on a tour of Cape Town tomorrow which I am really looking forward to. Sorry for getting off track again. Anyway, I got a quick tour of the office where Kaity works and got a chance to meet just about everyone. They are all super friendly and nice. They made me feel right at home even though I am not working in their office. Instead I am working in Res Life, which I came to find out has only existed since January. Needless to say some things are a work in progress and it is a little confusing at times trying to keep busy. Especially since my supervisor, Faeza, left on Wednesday for a 2 week study tour in the U.S. and the other main coordinator, Candice, has been in and out this week. However, I have helped out where I can. I reviewed some reports for House Committees, which are similar to hall councils, as well as looked over a new constitution for the Central House Committee here at UWC. Again think RSA if you need a comparison. I think this was some good experience and it did cause me to come again to a realization I have been having. For as much as people fight or refuse to get along with each other over differences, it really is amazing all of the things we have in common. I wouldn't be surprised if a student back at BGSU had more in common with a student here at UWC than they would with their roommate. There just seems to be something that all human beings share regardless of where they come from, what language they speak, or what their culture is. Just reminds me of how silly it is when we chose to only focus on what makes us different and allow those differences to create to illusion that we have nothing in common. Then instead of celebrating our differences and learning from each other we let our differences become a way to define ourselves and to define the "other" creating the false idea that the other is someone who is not civilized, someone is not quite as human as us. Realizing how similar we are too one another makes me think of how some go so far out of their way to define themself and to define the other.
Well I'm not sure how coherent that was, so I do apologize. It is getting late here, and I've had a long day. So needless to say I will keep it brief...yes I know I have already failed at that...but I will try nonetheless. Anyway, I learned that students on HCs at UWC are guilty of the same thing many students back in the U.S. are guilty of. Spending way too much money on food when it comes to programming. This is the part that caused me to have that above realization. Clearly there is currently something in the nature of students, at least in the parts of the U.S. and South Africa I've worked in, that cause them to have programs where students come for food and leave. It just makes me wonder what other basic underlying characteristics do we share and how much in common we would have if we learned to recognize them along with what we can learn from each other. Anywho..where was I. Ah yes... Remember folks "it's about programs, not pizza" (LoConte, personal communication, 2011). So I made my recommendation to not over buy food for 300 people and to be ok with the fact that when the food is gone it is gone. I encouraged them to be more creative with program ideas and hopefully food won't need to be the focus of a program. Besides writing these reports I am also leading a team in charge of surveying students about their interaction with Res Life so far in the hopes of assessing the work Res Life has done so far this semester and also what needs to start and stop happening in order for this new office to reach its goal of supporting students.
So that's basically what I have been doing so far. All the documents are created and ready to go, just need to wait to Monday to start distribution so I will blog again next week about how that's going. I will also probably blog again tomorrow and include some photos from this weekend’s adventures. Until then.
~Timocskasy
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